ETMall, a subsidiary of Eastern Media International Corporation (2614), announced today (7th) that its consolidated revenue from January to August (including Strawberrynet and Mama Bear Shopping) reached NT$18.59 billion, showing an annual growth rate of 20.1%, and consolidated pre-tax profit of NT$1.37 billion. This shows a 34.5% increase from last year’s profit of NT$1.02 billion, with a net earnings per share (EPS) of NT$11.31. Consolidated revenue for August was NT$2.4 billion, with an annual increase of 17.2%, and consolidated pre-tax profit was NT$174 million, with an annual increase of 12.2%. In 2020, the total revenue of Eastern Group was NT$33 billion and a profit of NT$1.8 billion. This year, Eastern Group will aim for NT$50 billion in revenue and target a profit of NT$3.3 billion.
The pandemic has driven the overall growth of e-commerce performance, and in the first half of the year, the e-commerce operators have achieved excellent results. The EPS ranking in order is: momo NT$9.15, ETMall NT$8.44, PChome Online Inc. NT$1.72; but in terms of profitability, ETMall’s net profit margin in the first half of the year was 6.22%, much greater than momo’s 4.14% and PChome’s 0.86%. One of the main reasons is that ETMall is one of the few e-commerce companies in Taiwan that has adopted multi-channel sales, including TV shopping and telemarketing, in addition to the online shopping. Benefiting from the stay-at-home economy during the pandemic period, the percentage of ETMall online sales increased from 41% to 46% in May, clearly surpassing the TV shopping sales, and even reached 49% in July. With the additional profits from Strawberrynet, ETMall’s profit performance was particularly outstanding, far surpassing PChome and catching up with momo, becoming the second most profitable e-commerce company in Taiwan.
After the outbreak of the pandemic, the online fresh produce market became the focus of attention, and many e-commerce companies became involved in fresh food delivery. When the pandemic broke out in early June this year, Mama Bear Shopping’s new warehouse in Xinzhuang District was completed and diversion was immediately carried out for the old and new warehouses. At the same time, in response to consumer demand, Mama Bear Shopping immediately launched vegetable boxes. After the relocation of the new warehouse, the high efficiency logistics model has become one of Mama Bear’s competitive advantages. At present, Mama Bear’s own fleet accounts for 90% of the fleet, and the ratio of express delivery by motorcycle and home delivery is 85% and 15% respectively. Since August, the operator has been in partnership with HCT Logistics to expand the scope of Mama Bear’s express motorcycle delivery. The new warehouse has an even more efficient design in the flow of traffic, which improves the efficiency of manual picking by 25% and reduces the loss rate of frozen goods by 60%, greatly reducing the cost of expenditure.
In early August, the festive promotions included Father’s Day, Qixi Festival, and the Ghost Festival, driving a wave of online shopping performance. According to the ETMall’s observations, there are currently 9.11 million ETMall members, online shopping is still dominated by female consumers, with a male to female ratio of about 3:7, but the number of male consumers continues to increase. The age group of members aged 50-59 is the main consumer group, accounting for 29%, followed by members aged 40-49 with a solid financial basis, accounting for 21%. The two age groups make up half of the consumer base, and because ETMall has been in business for over 20 years, we have cultivated many loyal members who have grown together with us.
“Tasty, beautiful, and healthy” are the three main focuses of ETMall. By analyzing the number of units sold in the categories that consumers make the most purchase, from January to August this year, food and household goods were the most popular categories, each accounting for 24% of the total sales, and both representing a significant increase of 30% and 28% compared to the same period last year. It was concluded that due to the impact of the pandemic, consumers who usually buy food and daily necessities in physical stores are gradually switching to online shopping. Next is the health supplement category, which also accounted for 18%, indicating that consumers are increasingly focused on health or products that can enhance the body’s immunity. In addition, fashion and cosmetics also accounted for 14% and 12% of the total. ETMall provides a wide range of products that can satisfy consumers’ pursuit of a happy lifestyle full of “tasty, beautiful, and healthy” experiences.
In the post-pandemic era, e-commerce platforms have become an important sales platform. ETMall took the lead in joining the national agricultural and fishery products sales team and set up the Eastern Farm program in response the impact of the pandemic on the agricultural sector last year. Up to now, 13 county and city mayors have already appeared on the program to promote local agricultural products, and the sales performance of each show has been outstanding. In addition, the Mama Bear Shopping site, a subsidiary of ETMall, also launched the “Safe and Fresh Family Meal Box” during the pandemic, which has been well received by consumers. ETMall upholds the spirit of EHS Select to collaborate with the various counties and cities, as well as local small farmers to sell agricultural and fishery products. With the official launch of the Quintuple Stimulus Vouchers in October, if the government can include the relevant small farmers’ platforms in the usage scope of the voucher, we are certain that they can help operators in the catering and agricultural sectors affected by the pandemic.